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Plymouth Whalers' GM/coach Vellucci promoted to NHL's Hurricanes

The Plymouth Whalers are seeking a new general manager and a new head coach after Mike Vellucci, who held both jobs, was promoted Monday to assistant general manager and director of hockey operations for the Carolina Hurricanes.

Vellucci, 47, was named the Whalers’ team president in 2000 and GM and coach in 2001. In June, the Ontario Hockey League named him its OHL Executive of the Year for the 2012-13 season.

His coaching record with Plymouth is 468-322-36. The team has made the playoffs for 23 consecutive seasons.

The Hurricanes are the Whalers’ National Hockey League’s parent team, and both are owned by Peter Karmanos Jr., the retired chairman and co-founder of Detroit-based Compuware Corp.

“Mike’s outstanding track record with the Whalers and the Ontario Hockey League speaks for itself,” Karmanos said in a statement. “He’s earned the opportunity to take his talents to the National Hockey League. Mike is a valuable asset for (General Manager) Ron Francis and the Hurricanes.”

The Whalers under Vellucci won their lone OHL playoff championship in 2006-07 and appeared in the Memorial Cup, the tournament for the Canadian Hockey League’s three major junior ice hockey leagues. They finished third.

Vellucci started his career on the ice when he was picked 131st overall as a defenseman by the NHL’s Hartford Whalers in the 1984 NHL Entry Draft. He appeared in two games for the Whalers in 1988, amassing 11 penalty minutes in that short time. Hartford relocated and became the Hurricanes in 1997.

Vellucci, a Farmington native, also played for 10 minor league teams before being hired as head coach of the Whalers in 2001. He was named the Plymouth Whalers’ team president in 1999.

The Whalers are a major junior ice hockey team in the OHL.

Karmanos launched the team as the Detroit Compuware Ambassadors in 1990, and they were called the Detroit Junior Red Wings for a time. They were the Detroit Whalers from 1995 to 1997 before taking their current name in 1998.

Also part of Vellucci's job as general manager was oversight of the Whalers' 3,807-seat Plymouth Township home, Compuware Arena, built by Karmanos in 1996.

Vellucci was among several Hurricanes front office hires made by Karmanos on Monday. They also included:

• Ron Francis was named executive vice president and general manager.• Brian Tatum was named an assistant general manager.

• Francis replaces Jim Rutherford as general manager. Rutherford will remain with the team as president, in an advisory role, the team said.

The personnel moves are the latest in changes made by Karmanos.

In September, he fired his son Jason Karmanos from his job as executive vice president and assistant general manager of the Hurricanes after 15 years. A reason wasn’t disclosed.

Peter Karmanos formed Hurricanes Holdings LLC in 2011 for the NHL team and management of its PNC Arena, according to his biography on the team website.

He maintains a majority ownership, and 15 investor groups have been added to Hurricanes Holdings as minority owners.

The minority ownership had originally belonged to Thomas Thewes, who was a Compuware co-founder. Thewes died in September 2008, and Karmanos hired New York City-based investment bank Allen & Co. in May 2010 to handle a sale of some portion of the team.